Thanks, Harry, for this info.  I have been getting somewhat contradictory information as well.  I was hoping to get a referetnce to a Sanskrit text or commentary that will explain this in some detail.  But so far, I have not come upon any such original source.  The statement "La mention du kīlaka est courante à l’époque moderne." is also interesting.  How old are these notions?  Are they limited to relatively late texts?  I see the kīlaka in the Rāmarakṣāstotra, but there is no argalā in it.  So it looks like there is no invariable connection between kīlaka and argalā.  I have a manuscript in my hand that has some preamble to the Viṣṇusahasranāmastotra, that refers to various verses in it as bīja, śakti, hr̥daya, kīlaka, astra, kavaca, and mantra.  It does not have argalā, and these various verses assigned these roles are scattered throughout the text of the Viṣṇusahasranāma.  I wonder if it means that while reciting the text of the Viṣṇusahasranāma, these various steps or landmarks happen.  I was taught the recitation of this stotra, but the recitation does not halt at these various verses to perform anything specific. There is something mysterious to me.

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Tue, Jun 16, 2020 at 5:39 PM Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Madhav,
I've been trying to find this out (especially about kīlaka for over 20 years.  
1. Thomas Coburn in his book "Encountering The Goddess" note 27 to Chapter 6 says:
Ambika Datta UpAdhyAya observed that all mantras, Rg Vedic and other, have placed over them a curse which renders their recitation ineffective until it is removed with a kIlaka, a sort of "counter curse". An appropriate kIlaka exists for every mantra.  The episode that appears here in the kIlaka is clearly similar, but the restraint is placed on the mantra in SaptazatI not as a curse, but to contain its overwhelming power.
2. The TAK entry for kIlaka is:

Au sens figuré, le kīlaka est un des éléments servant à caractériser

un mantra tantrique et qui, dans les rites, doivent être imposés,

par nyāsa*, en commençant par le ṛṣi (v. s.v. rṣādi). Ce

kīlaka est conçu comme la pointe grâce à laquelle le mantra va

pouvoir se ficher dans la personne ou l’objet qu’il vise et donc

agir. Les manuels de rituel qui mentionnent le kīlaka le donnent

comme formé par un des éléments constitutifs (mot ou syllabe) du

mantra. Une telle mention ne paraît pas être très ancienne. [A.P.]

Le kīlaka, PHAṬ􀄝*, du sudarśanasahasranāmastotramahāmantra est

mentionné dans le Sudarśanasahasranāmastotra donné en appendice

de l’AhS (p. 617). [M.R.] Voir aussi TBhS, p. 170, citant un

texte non daté. La mention du kīlaka est courante à l’époque moderne.

[A.P.]


3. Other than whats above.  The vague contradictory information that I've  received 15 0r 20 years (I no longer remember the sources)  is that it is like a bolt of a lock or a door.  Some informants saying that repeating the kIlaka bija syllable removes the pin of the lock or door releasing the power of the mantra.  Other informants saying repeating the kIlaka bija syllable puts the pin in the lock or door of the mantra to contain its power so the repeater of the mantra isn't destroyed by the power of the mantra.

If you receive any information offlist please pass it on to me.

Thanks,
Harry Spier


On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 11:54 PM Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
What is the exact significance of the terms अर्गला and कीलक as they appear in qualifying several mantras, stotras etc?  I have seen these terms, but did not think further about them. Someone asked me this question, and I did not have an answer.

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
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